Elizabeth Nelsen was somewhat concerned about mixing song with slop. Her real fear was wrapped around something most film producers try to avoid — working with very young children or animals. She figured that she and her film crew could break half the rule and deliver apoignant film from the screenplay Opera Farmer. Nelsen, and her production crew — all students from Compass Film Academy, were coming up with ideas that could result in a short film for their graduating theis project. After some debate, they decided to go for it, to make a film that would mix opera with animals. So they began scouting Michigan farms, searching for the right farm to shoot Opera Farmer.
“Going into the project, we had some reservations,” Nelsen said. The 22-year-old from North Dakota grinned and added, “But we found a great professional animal wrangler to help with the sheep and pigs. And we knew the script was solid, the story was there.”
It was the structure of story that built a bridge over the concerns Nelson and the other students had about working with animals.Story is one of the central parts of the curriculum taught at Compass Film Academy, where Opera Farmer and two other student films, Crashing Man and A Close Shave, are in post-production as two dozen students wrap their thesis projects.
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Compass Arts Graduation Ceremony
Featuring the premier of Crashing Man, Opera Farmer, A Close Shave
Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids
Aug. 11, 7 p.m. grcmc.org |
The thesis films produced by Compass students aren’t the typical genre that often mixes shaky, hand-held camera styles with poor production skills. They audition professional actors, fine-tune scripts and shot lists, secure production permits, scout locations and shoot with high-end cameras such as the Red for a warm, cinematic look and feel.
All of the lessons learned in the classroom are applied multiple times in the field. Students rotate roles, some working as producers for one project, directors or camera operators for others. To prepare students for jobs in today’s production climate, Compass teaches them skills that will apply in Michigan or Hollywood.
“The single most important element in the film business is the ability to tell a very good story,” says Cort Langeland, Executive Producer and Lead Instructor at Compass. “All other business, technical and artistic elements serve the story and can only be truly successful if the story is capable of connecting with the audience and moving them emotionally and mentally. The spine of our film program built around the art of telling a great story. It weaves into every single element of our program. If you can learn to tell a good story, you will be able to withstand massive shifts in technology, film delivery formats and whatever genre happens to be ‘hot’ at any particular moment.”
The Compass film program is an intense, accelerated 14-month education that gives students the hands-on skills, experience and knowledge to be competitive in today’s production industry. And a lot of that market is now in West Michigan. Many of Compass students stay in the area because the work is coming here with the state’s film incentives program.
Evan Koons, Compass Industry Relations Specialist, put it this way, “In 2008 and 2009, the majority of our students, well over three quarters, did film internships and took their first jobs in Michigan. We anticipate the same numbers this year.” Koons adds that the production in Michigan is bringing back students who have worked in Los Angeles and New York. “One of our graduates was finishing a job in New York when he got a call to return to Michigan to work on the feature film, 30 Minutes or Less, a comedy starring Danny McBride and directed by Ruben Fleischer.”
The last film that Fleischer’s directed was Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone. The cast and crew for 30 Minutes or Less will be working in and around Grand Rapids through August.
One of the Compass thesis films, Crashing Man, weaves a new genre of filmmaking into the script. It’s called Steampunk and it is part of the visual texture that gives Crashing Man a modern, but period story feel. The production, using a script that included scenes from a Victorian England setting, was reliant on the Compass art department instructor to help with the look of period authenticity.
“Steampunk really originated in the days of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne,” says the film’s director, Steve Wygmans. “In those days it was science fiction. Today, Steampunk storytelling juxtaposes or re-imagines modern technology in a Victorian era, the period of the industrial steam engine. Imagine an iPod in that setting, but with the cool, compositing effects that give the illusion that it works and fits the scene.”
The scene for learning the art of filmmaking is firmly set in West Michigan at Compass Film Academy. The film school is soon expected to receive its official accreditation as an associates degree granting college. At that time, the script will change for the school, too, which is entering its second decade with the fall class. New students will be graduating next year from Compass College of Cinematic Arts. For those interested in becoming fimmakers, the admissions office is still accepting applications for the fall term.
Crashing man, Opera Farmer and A Close Shave, will premiere in a special screening at the Wealthy Theatre in Grand Rapids, Wednesday, August 11 at 7 p.m.
Writer Tom Lowe is a media relations specialist for Compass Film School.
